In the news...

...Congrats all the way around to LD17's legislative delegation of Senator Meg Burton Cahill, Representative Ed Ableser, and Representative David Schapira (Democrats, one and all). Each earned a grade of 100% from the Arizona League of Conservation Voters in their Legislative Scorecard for the 2008 session. While there were many high-scoring districts, LD17 was the only district where more than one legislator earned a grade of 100%.

On the opposite end of the scale was LD3, with Sen. Ron Gould and Reps. Trish Groe and Nancy McClain (Rs one and all - of course) earning an average score of 27%.

...While it's been a lot of fun to watch the LD18 Republicans tear themselves apart (LOTS of fun :) ), the media coverage of all of the negative campaigning and polls conducted by Republican firms has all but ignored Tammie Pursley and Judah Nativio, the strong Democratic candidates in the west Mesa district (for House and Senate, respectively). However, the EV Tribune ran a full story on Nativio on Thursday. It was a pretty good piece, one that pointed out that the race for the LD18 senate seat won't end on September 2nd when the contest between immigration attorney (and brother-in-law of Congressman Jeff Flake) Kevin Gibbons reaches its conclusion.

The real race will just be beginning.

...Friday morning at 10, the AZ Democrats will be holding a rally to highlight John McCain's close ties to Big Oil. The rally will take place from 10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on the southwest corner of 48th St. and Thomas, across from the Mobil station.

...Apparently nobody told McCain and the Republicans that they've been calling themselves the party of private property rights - they're getting sued for misappropriating and misusing someone's private property.

From AP -

Jackson Browne sues McCain, RNC over song in ad

Jackson Browne doesn't want John McCain running on anything fueled by his lyrics.

The singer-songwriter sued McCain and the Ohio and national Republican committees in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Thursday, accusing them of using his song "Running on Empty" without his permission.

Perhaps their "respect" for private property rights just doesn't apply to the property of famous liberals...

...In an example of willful irony (OK, it was shameless hypocrisy, but I'm trying to be tactful here - this isn't supposed to be an unmitigated McCain-bashing post), McCain has criticized the Russian invasion of Georgia (the country, not the state), saying things like "In the 21st century, nations don’t invade other nations."

Iraq, John. Iraq.

...Darragh Murphy, head of PUMA PAC, an organization that purports to be a group of grassroots Hillary Clinton supporters working to secure her nomination at the Democratic Convention in two weeks, has some credibility problems.

It turns out that in 2000, she supported John McCain in the Republican Presidential primary to the tune of $500.

Can you say "astroturf"?

This stuff and other stuff about PUMA PAC has been going around the internet for a more than a month now, but she was blathering (and getting ripped apart) on Hardball on Thursday. So I figured that it was my turn (I know a couple of Clinton delegates who read this blog).

...And in goofy news of the day, a Chandler resident wants his city to sue the Obama campaign because he feels that the campaign's logo is so similar to the City of Chandler's logo that it constitutes trademark infringement. (AZ Republic)

I think it's BS, but you decide (logos courtesy the AZRep article linked above) -

Later!

Events and other election stuff (and an Ethics Committee hearing into Jack Harper's behavior)...

...Tuesday, August 12 - As chronicled by Zelph at AZNetroots, the hearing by the Senate Ethics Committee, putatively to investigate the actions of Sen. Jack Harper (R-Surprise!) is scheduled to take place at 1 p.m. At the end of the Senate session in June, Harper abused his power as the chair of the Senate meeting to cut off Democratic Senators Paula Aboud and Ken Cheuvront. He was trying to railroad an anti-same sex marriage constitutional amendment on to the November ballot; they were working to prevent that. When Harper arbitrarily shut off the Dems' microphones, he violated Senate rules.

However justified the hearing may be, it's nothing but a sham as two of the three Republican members of the five-member committee, Sens. Barbara Leff and Robert Blendu, have already announced that they don't think that Harper committed any violations. Still, it could be interesting to watch the hearing; while the outcome is all but determined, some of the nuances and shadings of the proceedings could be fun (like who shows up to watch, how long they make Harper squirm before giving him a free pass, etc.) Video should be available here.

...Tuesday, August 12 - The LD17 Democrats will hold their monthly meeting at the Pyle Center in Tempe (SW corner of Baseline and Rural). The special guest speaker will be Congressman Harry Mitchell. Other highlights include Adralyn Wendel from the coordinated campaign office, campaign updates, and T-SHIRTS!

...Tuesday, August 12 - Rebecca Schneider and Chris Gramazio, Democratic challengers to Congressman Jeff Flake (R-CD6), will hold a debate at the main branch of the Chandler Library, 22 S. Delaware St.

...The Ed Hermes for County Supervisor campaign will be holding phone banks on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and canvassing in LD20 on Sunday, August 17. For more details, contact the campaign at 480-626-8100 or stop by the campaign HQ at 7305 W. Boston St., Chandler.

...Friday, August 15 - There will be an open house at the coordinated campaign office in Tempe (123 E. Baseline - SE corner Mill and Baseline). Stop by from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and meet Congressman Harry Mitchell, LD17 State Senator Meg Burton-Cahill, and LD17 State Representatives Ed Ableser and David Schapira as well at Ted Maish and Rae Waters (LD 20 Candidates), Phil Hettmansperger (LD 21 Candidate), Tammy Pursley and Judah Nativio (LD 18 Candidates), and Ed Hermes (County Board of Supervisors Candidate).

...In "non-event but still pretty informative (and funny) news, the AZ Democratic Party has launched ShadeggforSenate.com, dedicated to the future political aspirations of Congressman John Shadegg (R-Calgon, take me away!). It's a sharp needle aimed toward the balloon of Shadegg's career in D.C., but it has a tough act to follow in the Maricopa County Democratic Party's Joe'sGotToGo.com, aimed at Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Later!

County Supervisor secretly records meeting with constituents

In a story that broke on Thursday in the AZ Rep's Political Insider, Maricopa County Supervisor Fulton Brock (R-SD1) secretly (and bizarrely) taped a meeting with representatives of community groups from his district.

From the article -

Maricopa County Supervisor Fulton Brock secretly videotaped a sometimes-testy sit-down with four advocates from Maricopa Citizens for Safety and Accountability, the Arizona Advocacy Network, and ACORN.

{snip}

"That’s something you would expect of the old Kremlin," said Linda Brown, executive director of the advocacy network. "It’s a tactic of an adversarial approach towards the citizens you are representing. It certainly doesn’t show good faith. I think most voters would be shocked that our own elected officials -- these are people that serve at the pleasure of the citizens, for the citizens -- are conducting themselves in a way that is, in essence, spying on representatives of the community."

Brock told the Insider that he wanted the meeting recorded in case something "irregular" happened.

"I just wanted to protect myself, the county, the sheriff, and other elected officials ... from anything that might be irregular," he said. "My only instruction was to video(tape) the meeting in case something got out of hand."

A call to Brock's office has yet to be returned (to be fair, he may not be dodging the call - I placed the call late on a Friday afternoon. His weekend may have started early.)

I spoke to one of the meeting attendees, Linda Brown, ED of the Arizona Advocacy Network. She reiterated what was said in the Republic's piece, that until the end of the meeting (when the mics were uncovered) the meeting was a "positive" one where the representatives of the different groups told Brock a little about their groups and their own backgrounds. They also expressed concerns about the "climate of intimidation" created by Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his anti-immigrant sweeps.

They recounted incidents of families not attending church or parents not bringing their children to school; Brock followed up by noting that people now flee when the County's health services van shows up for immunization clinics (he later back off from in any way implying that there is anything even remotely resembling a 'climate of intimidation' in the county.)

Ms. Brown found the attempted secrecy and deceptiveness of Brock's actions to be unusual (to put it mildly) and somewhat unethical (to put it tactfully.)

By all accounts, Brock's move was also rather amateurish - the recording was accomplished by taking mics that were designed for tabletops and placing them on the floor under the table in front of each of the community activists. They were found when one of the activists accidentally kicked a mic.

Maybe Brock is auditioning to play the bad guy in a sequel to the Get Smart movie...he is probably looking for a job to transition to after this fall's election, anyway. :)

Ed Hermes, the Democrat challenging Brock this fall, stated that it was "clear that Brock went to great lengths to cover up" the fact that he was recording the meeting, and that it was "unfortunate that he [Brock] could't be upfront and honest" with members of the public.

I found Brock's quote from the article to be a telling one - his first priority was to protect other elected officials, not to help his constituents or his community.

Based on the original AZ Rep piece, the writer of the article (Yvonne Wingett) was able to view the recording of the meeting. Perhaps it will be posted on the County Supes' website - after all, even though the fact that it was being recorded was kept secret from most of the participants, the meeting itself took place in a public meeting area of the county complex and was streamed live to the offices of all of the Supervisors.

Later....

Things I'm grateful for today...

Among the things that I'm grateful for today -

...John Edwards' admission that he had an affair. Not that I'm glad that he had the affair (and my sympathies go out to Elizabeth Edwards and the Edwards family), but it's forced the MSM to break away from their wall-to-wall coverage of the Brett Favre unretirement saga.

...God knows that I *never* thought I would be in a position to say this, but I'm grateful for Paris Hilton this week. Her response to a McCain ad that compared Barack Obama to her and Britney Spears made the McCain campaign look like a bunch of ignorant fools. Yup, the McCainiacs got punked by a celebutante; when they sit around and evaluate their efforts this week, they're going to have to admit that they came off looking like the intellectual (and comedic!) inferiors to someone best known for her partying and for her DUI busts, all while not looking as good ("wrinkly white-haired guy" LOL).

...Yet another incumbent GOP congressman lost in a primary race, this time in Tennessee. Outgoing (and now disgruntled) Rep. David Davis blamed Democrats for his loss, conveniently ignoring the fact that his opponent successfully tied him to Big Oil. This situation might give John Shadegg and his cohorts pause - while they showboat on the House floor in an attempt to place the blame for energy prices on Democrats, even other Republicans know where the blame belongs.

...Regarding the State Senate race in LD18, the Republicans there are turning on each other with a viciousness normally reserved for Democrats and Mexicans. There have been duelling press releases, mailers, countermailers, robo-calls, email blasts, and blog posts (here, too). And all of that doesn't even include the invective that supporters of each candidate have been throwing at the other candidate and the other candidate's supporters directly. Shark Week may be officially over, but whenever Nathan Sproul is involved (AZ's Karl Rove wanna-be), there's always chum in the water or mail box.

So what can a Democrat or Independent do?

How 'bout grab some popcorn, enjoy the show, and remember to vote for Judah Nativio and Tammie Pursley in November.


What? You read the title of this post and were expecting something sappy and syrupy? You ought to know better by now. :))

Later...

Headlines

...The big news (for those of us who plan on being in Denver in 3 weeks, anyway), the DNC has announced its public credentialing plans for Sen. Barack Obama's acceptance speech at Invesco Field. Half of the credentials will go to Colorado residents, and 2/3 will go to residents of Mountain West states (which includes AZ).

Interested AZ residents should call (720) 362-2500 or email CommCredentials@DemConvention.com. The initial contact will ask for your name, state of residence, telephone number and email. It should be noted that travel and lodging for recipients will be their responsibility.


...Has anyone noticed the irony of Arizona House Speaker Jim Weiers and his cohorts wanting Governor Napolitano to call a special session of the legislature to find funding for 500 school vouchers, but want to spend millions of dollars to avoid funding ELL education for more that 130,000 students? Yes, I know that other have covered this before, but the story just hasn't died down (apparently Weiers may be serious about this - as opposed to just engaging in a little election-year posturing.)


...The McCain campaign can deny it all that they want, but all indications are that they've written off any hope of winning over any African-American voters. As such, there is no need for them to maintain even a pretense of civility.

From Florida Capital News (emphasis mine) -

McCain security ousts reporter

Tallahassee Democrat senior writer Stephen Price on Friday was singled out and asked to leave a media area at the Panama City rally of presidential candidate Sen. John McCain

Price was among at least three other reporters, and the only black reporter, surrounding McCain's campaign bus — Gov. Charlie Crist and his fiancee, Carole Rome, were already aboard — when a member of the Arizona senator's security detail asked the reporter to identify himself. Price had shown his media credentials to enter the area.

{snip}

When another reporter asked why Price was being removed, she too was led out of the area. Other state reporters remained.

Thanks to jobsanger for the heads-up on this story.

More later....

John Washington, candidate for mayor of Scottsdale, withdraws from race

Community activist John Washington has announced that he is ending his write-in candidacy for the office of Mayor of Scottsdale.

From his press release -

It is with great respect and appreciation for my supporters and our citizens of Scottsdale that I hereby withdraw from the September 2, 2008 General Election race for Mayor.

My goal in running for mayor was to drive a higher level of conversation about the issues that are important to the citizens of Scottsdale. I am pleased the other candidates have embraced these issues, among them:

· Openness and honesty in creating public policy.
· Respect for, and value of citizen input.
· Financial responsibility, and good stewardship of taxpayers’ money.
· Traffic, growth, building height, population density.
· Value of Scottsdale’s history, identity, and community character.
· The importance of Scottsdale’s character to tourism and to our quality of life.

These issues have also become central themes during Council candidate forums and discussions. Our citizens have applauded these discussions with renewed interest in their government. I am proud to have accomplished this important goal. I also realize, though, that important work lies ahead during the last weeks before the election.

Our citizens better understand the issues facing the next Council. However, there are many Council candidates, and few opportunities for one-on-one conversation with them. Therefore, I want to focus my energy on expanding dialogue between the candidates and our citizens, encouraging our citizens to vote, and encouraging them to vote based on candidates’ track records rather than on campaign promises.

I am pleased to endorse Tom Giller (www.TomGiller.com) and Nan Nesvig(www.NanNesvig.com) for Scottsdale City Council. Tom and Nan have stood alongside our citizens, defending our neighborhoods and our quality of life. Through their efforts and personal sacrifice they have demonstrated their passion for, and their commitment to Scottsdale and her residents. I look forward to working with Tom and Nan during the next four years.

I encourage you to get to know Tom and Nan, and to give them your support and your vote on September 2. As I have learned, it is a lot of work for a candidate to get his or her message out to our citizens to help them make informed decisions. Please help Tom and Nan get on Council so they can look after our interests.

Your questions are welcome, and I will maintain www.ScottsdaleCitizen.com as a portal for information on the election.

Thank you for your support!

John Washington
480.229.1831
john[at]ReactionResearch.com

I'll concede that this isn't much of a surprise as he didn't have a snowball's chance of winning, but as an observer/writer, I'm going to miss his presence in the race. He changed the dynamic of the race and could have forced it to go to a November run-off election.

With his withdrawal, the two remaining candidates, incumbent Mayor Mary Manross and Councilman Jim Lane, will only have to plan their campaign expenditures for a sprint to September 2 rather than a possible marathon to November.

BTW - that sprint starts tomorrow when mail ballots for the September election go out.

BTW2 - It's interesting, but also not much of a surprise, that Mr. Washington didn't endorse either of the other two candidates. He entered the race in the first place because he isn't particularly impressed with either one.

Look for him to stay active in Scottsdale community goings-on, with an eye toward a run for Council in two years (no inside info there, just a guess on my part. :) )

Mail Call

The first "mail call" post of the 2008 election season will be a brief one.

Official candidate publicity pamplets are starting to reach voters across the state.

...The first to hit mailboxes in Scottsdale was the City of Scottsdale's candidate information pamphlet (.pdf available here). That one showed up late last week, and it's pretty straightforward.

...Reaching town today was the Clean Elections Commission's "2008 Statewide & Legislative Candidate Statements - Primary Election" brochure (.pdf available here).

That one was a little more interesting. Where the Scottsdale candidates used their statements as a platform for a "why you should vote for me" message, Mark Thompson, one of the Republican challengers, spent most of his statement attacking the Democratic incumbents, David Schapira and Ed Ableser. He criticized them for being young (no children or grandchildren), for being teachers (not business owners) and for, of all the crazy things for a Republican to criticize someone over, for being too fiscally responsible.

From his statement -

"Government should not be allowed to indebt future generations to avoid being responsible and accountable today."

Of course, Thompson may only be worried about Democratic measures to balance a budget, something that George Bush and his fellow Republicans obviously don't worry about. Thompson gives Republicans a free pass for creating the deficits both state and federal in the first place, with their tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy.

Another curious aspect of the statements of Thompson and Wes Waddle, the other Republican running in the district, is that neither one mentions Tempe, Scottsdale, or LD17 in the statement.

You know, the place that they allegedly want to represent.

Both Schapira and Ableser, as well as the incumbent State Senator Meg Burton Cahill (D), did write about their efforts in representing the district down at the state lege.

Her challenger, Republican Jesse Hernandez, didn't make the same omission in his statement.

Of course, that's only because he didn't submit any statement at all.


Later!

Mark Anderson - short on campaign $ or victim of dirty trick?

I wish I'd had a camera with me, but didn't, so I can't post a pic (but hope that someone else does), but today I passed a couple of yard sign-sized signs for Mark Anderson. I'm not sure if they were old signs, but all they had on them was his name ("Mark Anderson" of course), his party ("Republican") and his website ("markandersonaz.com".)

Nothing else, like one important detail - the office that he's running for (U.S. Congress, for those of you reading this from some place not named Arizona.)

BTW - "markandersonaz.com"?? That comes back as a dead website.

I didn't recognize that site; I thought Anderson's campaign site was "letsmakecongressbetter.com" or something like that.

Well, that didn't take long to check, and it turns out that his current campaign site *is* www.letsmakecongressbetter.com.

It didn't take long to check out the website on the sign, either. Turns out that "markandersonaz.com" is his old campaign site from the 2001 - 2006 era.

Hmmmm....either someone found some of Anderson's old signs and decided to "help" him out by putting them up with a bad website on them, or the Anderson campaign is short on cash and it trying to stretch its available resources.

Given that his most recent campaign finance report showed that his cash on hand was at less than $70K (PDF of the report at the link), I'm leaning toward "stretching resources".

Even if he makes it through the Republican primary (which admittedly doesn't look very likely at this point), he may not have the resources for the general election campaign against Harry Mitchell.

Later...

More odds and ends (like some canvasses this weekend)...

...This being the last full weekend before ballots start getting sent out to voters who are voting early/by mail, there are a number of canvasses planned for Saturday. All start at 8:30 a.m.

In Tempe, volunteers should meet at the Tempe Coordinated Campaign office, 123 W. Baseline (SE corner of Mill and Baseline). For more information, contact Devon Canode, 336-287-9923.

In Mesa, volunteers should meet at the GEMDEMS office, 7141 E. Main St. Join House candidate Tammie Pursley and Senate candidate Judah Nativio, among others, as they work to turn LD18 Blue. For more information, contact Ben[at]electjudah.com or kweatherford[at]azdem.org.

In Phoenix, volunteers have a couple of different options - meet at the campaign office of CD3 candidate Bob Lord (4736 N 44th St.) or at the AZ Dems' HQ (2910 N Central Ave.). For more info, contact the AZ Dems at (602) 298-4200.

On Sunday, Ed Hermes, candidate for County Supervisor, will be joining forces with Phil Hettmansberger, candidate for LD21 State Representative, to walk and knock in LD21. For more info, contact Bob and Kirsten, Ed's volunteer coordinators at 616.283.9362.

There are other canvassing opportunities in other parts of the valley and the state; contact the ADP or your county party for more details.


...In Democratic primary news, Gerald Richard and Tim Nelson, candidates for Maricopa County Attorney will meet twice next week in candidate debates/forums.

- On Tuesday, July 29, the League of Women Voters will hold a debate at Central High School in Phoenix (4525 N Central Ave). The event starts at 7:00 p.m. For more info, contact the MCDP at 602-298-0503.

- On Thursday, July 31, the Foothills Democrats will be holding a candidate forum in Scottsdale at the Legend Trail Community Center, 34575 N Legend Trail Pkwy. The event starts at 7:00 p.m. For more info, contact the Foothills Democrats at 602-234-6590.


...Another dispatch from the "all politics is local" field office -

Mike McClellan of Mesa regularly writes for the AZ Republic. On Thursday, a piece he wrote on Republican State Rep. Andy Biggs went up on the Rep's website.

Turns out that Biggs, one of the most ardently conservative members of the lege, screwed over his own constituents in Gilbert during a recent controversy over fire protection services for unincorporated county islands. (Read the whole piece at the link above for details.)

Wouldn't it be ironic if Biggs was bounced out of his seat in the lege not because of partisan considerations (though Democrat Glenn Ray will be waiting for him if Biggs makes it through the four-way primary for two seats), but because he forgot one of the basic rules of retaining elected office - don't get caught stabbing your constituents in the back when you need to run for election again.

It'll be interesting to see if one or more of Biggs' challengers in the Rep primary use the fire district issue against him.

Stay tuned...


...Is the political tide beginning to turn on nativists? At least, one of the wings of the Republican Party is turning on them...

In LD18, an independent expenditure political action committee, Judgment Matters, has been formed with the stated intent to oppose Russell Pearce's (R - National Alliance). (PolitickerAZ) candidacy for state senate.

The group is seeking donations to mount an advertising campaign against Pearce's candidacy. According to the group's filings with the AZ Secretary of State, it is headed up by business attorney J. Mark Ogden and apparently has political consultant Farrell Quinlan as its spokesman. Quinlan is the former vice president of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The fun part is that none of the people involved seem to be Democrats - Ogden represents businesses in conflicts with labor, and Quinlan is a long-time Republican. Just read his blog, Willet Creek Dam.

OK, so now it's official - the 2-way LD18 State Senate Republican primary is more contentious than the 6-way fight in the CD5 Republican primary. (Though this Knaperek-supporting blog is doing its best to change that.)

Anybody got some popcorn?? :))


...As I type this, C-SPAN is broadcasting a meeting of the House Judiciary Committee hearing on executive power and the Bush Administration.

Watching this has made something very clear -

Bush and/or Cheney are not going to be impeached, no matter how much it's justified. While the House could pass articles of impeachment by a simple majority (50% + 1), it takes a 2/3 vote in the Senate to convict; that will never happen.

As is clear from the Republicans on the committee, led by Mike Pence of Indiana, this president could walk out on the Capitol Mall at high noon, put a match to the Constitution, and dance around it while it burns in front of the throng of tourists, and all they would do about it is to hand Bush a bag of marshmallows and a stick.


Later!

Odd and Ends

...Courtesy an email from MCDP...

Two new candidates have stepped forward to run for office in the West Valley.

- Out in Sun City, Leigh Strickman, a small business owner and PC, has filed to run for the District 4 County Supervisor seat currently occupied by Max Wilson. She is running as a write-in candidate and will need 600 people to vote for her in September to make it on to the ballot in November. If you want to volunteer, you can reach her campaign at strickman08@gmail.com or call 623-698-8004.

- And in Litchfield Park (also District 4), educator Randolph Lumm is running for the Maricopa County Community College Governing Board. He needs to collect 2500 sigs to qualify for the ballot, so anyone interested in helping him should contact the West Dems office at (623) 249-7407 to volunteer.


...In a sign that perhaps certain Republicans don't really get the whole "politics is about people" thing, as in "real people with real concerns", CD5 candidate David Schweikert is following up his June fundraiser at the Scottsdale Gun Club with a fundraiser in a gated community in north Scottsdale at the end of this month.

By contrast, Harry Mitchell (D-CD5) spent much of the same period either working for or honoring people for whom weapons and protective walls are more than a conspicuous assertion of social status.

On Sunday, July 13, he participated in the unveiling of a "permanent display" that serves as "a visual reminder of the sacrifices members of the military and their families are making." (EV Tribune). He followed that up on Tuesday, July 15 by chairing a hearing of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Veterans Affairs Committee into the Department of Veterans Affairs' outreach efforts for veterans who are at risk for PTSD and/or suicide. (AP via SF Chronicle coverage here.)

A quick perusal of Schweikert's campaign website finds rhetoric that is heavy on Club for Growth/Republican neo-con talking points and light on any concerns for CD5 or the people who live here. In fact, other than pro-forma mentions of Barry Goldwater and "Arizona values," this website would serve for any GOP candidate from Maine to California, and serve with very few changes (mostly on the contact information pages.)

And he's the presumptive Republican front-runner here. The other candidates are worse.


...Over in California, Der Governator is proving that he's a true, dyed-in-the-wool Republican - he's ticked off at the California legislature for its failure to pass a budget (as well he should be!), so does he vent his anger at the legislators who are failing to do their jobs? Of course not - that's not the Republican way.

Nope, instead he is trying to cut the pay of every state employee to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 per hour. (SF Chronicle)

Given that most of the affected employees are covered by contracts (union or personal), don't expect this one to go far. On the other hand, picking on working people, especially people who work for the government, will surely endear Schwarzenegger to the radical corporatist wing of his party.


...On Tuesday, the 11 candidates for municipal office in Scottsdale met in two separate forums sponsored by the East Valley Tribune. Trib coverage of the Mayoral forum here; coverage of the Council forum here.

The forums will be replayed on Scottsdale's City Cable 11 on the next two Sundays from 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.

I'm not going to do a full write up of the event (a bit of dozing off during the mayoral portion of the program and a format with a lightning round combine to make that an overly ambitious idea), but I do have a couple of quick observations -

- Lisa Borowsky did better Tuesday than she did at last week's COPP-sponsored forum. She wasn't spectacular by any means, but her voice didn't get drowned out this week, either.

- Joel Bramoweth needs to learn the meaning of the word "succinct." After watching his performance, one sharp-tongued observer opined that if Bramoweth is elected to the Council, the rules that dictate a three-minute time limit for public comments may need to be expanded to Council members, too.

Yes, I was that observer. :))

- Ron McCullagh is running a campaign straight out of the Republican playbook. Right now, he's reading from the page labeled "When in doubt, scare 'em." However, this being Scottsdale, instead of citing the usually boogeymen of illegal immigrants and terrorists to engender fear among the audience members, he went with "payday loan businesses" and "massage parlors."

Hey, it *is* Scottsdale after all. :))

- The biggest disappointment, and this applies to the entire cast of council candidates, was their lack of original ideas on addressing Scottsdale's traffic crunch. When asked about when they thought was the best solution available, they all paid obeisance at the "light rail is dead" altar before advocating for more buses and existing transit options.

While their answers varied a bit in length and vocabulary, they could all be summed up thusly -

"Let's close our eyes and click our heels together three times while saying 'let's do more of the same things that aren't working now and hope that the problem will go away before we have to do something substantial.' "

Given that early ballots go out at the end of next week, time is getting short for any epiphanies on the part of the candidates; don't expect any improvement between now and the election.

Note: I called CityCable11's Dennis Grzelak (the manager). According to him, at this point in time, there are no plans to make the video of the forums available online; if you want to view them, catch one of the Sunday rebroadcasts.


...Sometimes bloggers can make an impact... (thanks to Jobsanger in Texas for the heads-up on this) -

It seems that blogger TxSharon of Bluedaze has been keeping track of the environmental damage caused by energy giant Chesapeake Energy and similar companies. with nice, full-color pictures of some of their pollution.

Chesapeake Energy has responded to her diligence by referring to her as a "radical" and stating that "free speech" is all fine and dandy, but it shouldn't apply to people not directly affected by a given issue. (TxSharon doesn't live in the area of Ft. Worth most directly affected by Chesapeake's actions.)

In other words, they apparently believe that witnesses to a crime shouldn't say anything about it, only direct victims should.

Yeah, right.

Anyway, as near as I can tell, Chesapeake doesn't have much, if any, presence in AZ, but this situation still calls for attention.

It's ok to go viral with this. (hint, hint :) )

Later!

John Washington, candidate for Mayor of Scottsdale

A third candidate has responded to my invitation to submit a statement regarding his candidacy.

Today, it's the statement of neighborhood activist and write-in candidate for mayor, John Washington.

From his email -

Craig,

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to your readers.

You can read muchmore extensive information about my positions and the elections atwww.ScottsdaleCitizen.com.

You asked that I tell you why I am the best choice for Scottsdale. I have to say emphatically that I am NOT. However, we couldn't get anyone better to run for Mayor!

There is not enough interest among better-qualified potential candidates. Elected office in this City pays poorly, requires a lot of work, and has very little dedicated staff support. I have advanced several proposals to fix all that.

Disinterest among real citizens leaves us career politicians and those who want to be. I, on the other hand, am no politician at all. I'm a citizen who has been frustrated at every attempt at positive input into the public process. We've seen public process and public policy hijacked for the benefit of the wealthy. We are selling the soul of our community -- the legacy we should be leaving to our children -- to developers.

Frustrated citizens are expressing their outrage, and folks who normally don't follow the process closely are getting engaged. The more this happens, the more the citizens are greeted with arrogance. This must stop. We MUST restore TRUST between the citizens and their government.

My primary objective is reinvigorating citizen involvement and maintaining it through openness, receptiveness, and honesty. I intend to initiate a conversation about community identity and the necessity of civic character to our quality of life. Only then can we address the many individual issues that face us, including financial health in the context of a struggling national economy.

Many of these issues are directly related. Growth, height, and density must be balanced against quality of life and civic character. Since civic character is directly related to tourism, revenue from development fees reduces revenue from tourism.

Hidden costs of development must be considered honestly and accurately. Development strains infrastructure like water, sewer, power, and roadways. It also dilutes public safety services like fire and police protection.

Only the citizens can best say how we balance growth against character. Other stakeholders should remain part of the process, but it is job of the Mayor and Council to make sure special interests do not dominate the processfor their own benefit, at the expense of our future.

We should respect the process, but we must also recognize when it is failing us. At that point, the Mayor and Council have responsibility to step in and fix the process.

It is clear to anyone who pays attention even a little that we are at such a point. Never in my history in Scottsdale have I seen such City-wide turmoil and citizen outrage. We need leadership to improve dialog through positive outreach and engagement, not by squashing it with arrogance and ridicule.

I want to lead that change.

John Washington
www.ScottsdaleCitizen.com
480.229.1831
john@reactionresearch.com

Have a good night...

Candidate Forum For Scottsdale Mayoral And Council Candidates

Back to boring (i.e. - content that's only relevent locally)...

Thursday evening, all three of Scottsdale's mayoral candidates (incumbent Mary Manross and challengers Jim Lane and John Washington) and 7 of the candidates for Scottsdale City Council (incumbents Betty Drake and Ron McCullagh and challengers Nan Nesvig, Tom Giller, Lisa Borowsky, Joel Bramoweth, and Suzanne Klapp) gathered for the candidate forum sponsored by the Coalition of Pinnacle Peak (COPP).

None of the candidates did a bad job there, though the one who didn't participate, council candidate Oren Davis, didn't do his candidacy any favors by not showing up.

While there were some differences in their positions, all of the candidates showed a grasp of the main issues facing Scottsdale.

Their positions, shown by their responses to a COPP candidate survey, can be found on this page.

Impressions -

Of the candidates who did participate, Lisa Borowsky had the weakest night - she was all but drowned out by the gaggle of candidates on dais. It's not entirely her fault (COPP should have split the forum based on office sought - 10 on the stage was just too many). In addition, after the first couple of questions that had been prepared by COPP, a series of audience questions were presented to the candidates, but in a move that was unique compared to the other candidate forums that I've attended over the last few years, those questions were directed at specific candidates, not the entire panel. The 'free-form' format of the debate might have worked with a smaller panel, but not here.

On the other hand, the other candidates faced the same conditions, too. If she wants to run for office, Borowsky needs to learn to adapt her presentation style on the fly.

The strongest presentation was from council candidate Nan Nesvig. She was prepared, spoke clearly, definitively and intelligently on a variety of issues. The only flaw in her presentation that I could find (and it's a technical one!) was that she spent a little too much time reading from her prepared notes.

Joel Bramoweth, as has been noted here before, tended to go on a little too long and sometimes made his answers more of a project than was necessary. However, he also was the funniest of the candidates, frequently connecting with the audience poking fun at his own speaking style. Overall, he probably helped himself a little.

Tom Giller (council) and John Washington (write-in candidate for mayor) did a good job of delineating their differences with the status quo, and did so strongly but without being strident.

Incumbent council members Drake and McCullagh stressed the need for a return to civility in Scottsdale politics (Drake) and that they were running to represent the entire city, not just one neighborhood or single section of the city (McCullagh).

In addition, all of the incumbents, including Mayor Manross, pointed out that the city is in decent shape (and to be fair, while there *are* problems here, as in any other city, Scottsdale really *is* in good shape overall).

On the other hand, most of the challengers, including current council member Lane, cited distrust between the City government and the citizens of Scottsdale as one of the big problems facing the city, and used that to call for a change in city goverment.

Anyway, the forum went fairly smoothly, other than some of the format issues cited above. It was not recorded on video, so anyone who couldn't make Thursday's event should plan to attend the EV Tribune Mayoral forum on Tuesday, July 22 in the City Hall Kiva from 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. It will be broadcast live on CityCable11 and repeated at various times.

Later!

FEC Reports are in....

Others have covered this area already, but have tended to focus on their own CDs; the basic raw numbers from all CDs with active committees are included in this post.


Key - candidate - net contributions, individual contributions, PAC contributions, net expenditures, cash on hand. (Net contributions may not match the total of individual and PAC contributions due to refunds, candidate contributions to their own campaigns, or other reasons. Generally, any such variance isn't significant.

CD1 -

Ann Kirkpatrick (D), challenger - $328053.05, $218453.05, $109600.00, $125340.27, $668177.46

Howard Shanker (D), challenger - $33274.60, $33274.60, $0, $46603.04, $20972.36

Mary Kim Titla (D), challenger - $54104.75, $52466.36, $1638.39, $45039.94, $57385.88

Sydney Hay (R), challenger - $95033.73, $76518.73, $18515.00, $59959.65, $257408.09

Preston Korn (R), challenger - $2885.00, $2885.00, $0, $7362.48, $9173.96


CD2 -

John Thrasher (D), challenger - $8295.00, $7895.00, $0, $6599.59, $14207.90

Trent Franks (R), incumbent - $88386.00, $53261.00, $35625.00, $44885.27, $129774.83


CD3 -

Bob Lord (D), challenger - $233202.50, $161794.90, $73507.60, $158933.66, $706523.25

John Shadegg (R), incumbent - $536024.78, $421210.36, $140014.42, $121592.91, $1354246.30

The Shadegg campaign is gloating about their fundraising success during the April - June reporting period, but there's more than a little element of "whistling past the graveyard" in their press releases - Bob Lord is easily the strongest challenger, Dem or Rep, in the state and he's mounting a challenge to Shadegg that is far tougher than any challenge he's faced since entering Congress.

Note: The grand opening of the Lord campaign headquarters is this Saturday, July 19, at 4736 N. 44th St., Phoenix (just south of Camelback) from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.


CD4 -

Ed Pastor (D), incumbent - $229493.13, $117377.88, $113515.25, $69158.20, $1428843.55


CD5 -

Harry Mitchell (D), incumbent - $335002.66, $224962.13, $113175.00, $85554.75, $1372464.22

David Schweikert (R), challenger - $162749.05, $162749.05, $0, $155851.16, $520990.10

Jim Ogsbury (R), challenger - $49783.24, $46783.24, $3000.00, $79435.55, $323442.10

Laura Knaperek (R), challenger - $34249.00, $37549.00, $0, $23200.05, $105520.79

Mark Anderson (R), challenger - $29278.14, $29278.14, $0, $25618.73, $68791.33

Susan Bitter Smith (R), challenger - $150379.51, $110603.51, $7000.00, $52363.67, $247945.89

The Republican challengers to Harry Mitchell have made some major bets on their abilities to emerge victoriously from the primary and then move on to defeat Mitchell - they've accumulated over $700K in loans and debts - Ogsbury and Schweikert at $250K each, Bitter Smith at more than $156K, and Knaperek has $50K in campaign debt. The only CD5 Rep who lists no campaign loans or obligations is Mark Anderson. In most cases, the loans/debt constitute a significant percentage (half or more) of the candidates' cash on hand totals.

Expect the following headline in mid-November - "Join the LD8 and LD17 Republicans for a joint campaign-debt retirement bake sale and car wash."

OK, OK, probably not... :))

Candie Dates (love that name!) at Sonoran Alliance has a post with some good graphs showing the CD5 challengers' financial positions.


CD6 -

Chris Gramazio (D), challenger - $3137.15, $3075.00, $0, 2539.24, $597.91

Jeff Flake (R), incumbent - $200035.00, $194835.00, $8800.00, $74097.13, $1091474.52


CD7 -

Raul Grijalva (D), incumbent - $125,398.00, $64,398.00, $61,000.00, $89,625.11, $171,043.21.


CD8 -

Gabrielle Giffords (D), incumbent - $562167.97, $381748.16, $181753.35, $156814.05, $2077845.80

Tim Bee (R), challenger - $390406.65, $307856.32, $79950.00, $229078.66, $687703.62


No reports that I could find from challengers Rebecca Schneider (D - CD6), Lee Gentry (R - CD5), Don Karg (R - CD4), or Joe Sweeney and Gene Chewning (Rs - CD7).

Withdrawn candidates - Annie Loyd (I - CD3).

Later!

Clean Elections Corporation Commission Candidate Forum - Primary Edition

On Tuesday morning and afternoon, candidates for the Arizona Corporation Commission, their supports, political junkies and *lots* of lobbyists gathered at the conference room at Rio Salado Community College in Tempe.

The reason for the festivities? The Clean Elections forum for Corporation Commission primary candidates. All of the candidates, both Democratic and Republican, attended the forums, even if they aren't recipients of Clean Elections financing.

The lead sponsor of the forum was the Arizona Telecommunications and Information Council (ATIC). ATIC "is an economic development foundation of the Governor's Strategic Partnership for Economic Development (GSPED). ATIC functions as Arizona's recognized and authoritative organization guiding technology policy development, serving as a leading source of information and expertise on telecommunications and information technology matters." (from their website)


Anyway, because of the high total number of candidates (12), the forum was split into two sessions, with the Democrats - Kara Kelty, Sandra Kennedy, Sam George, and Paul Newman - meeting in the morning, and the many Republicans meeting in the afternoon. (Both sets of candidates fielded the same prepared questions.)


Since I didn't stay through the entirety of both sessions (though I tried! I was really tired from work and about halfway through the Rep session, I started dozing off. It was time to leave. :) ), I won't recap each and every response. The video replay of the forum will eventually be available on ATIC's website and an abbreviated version will air on Cox Cable.


The Democratic candidates were basically on the same page on most issues - in most areas that the ACC is involved in, the commission doesn't need *more* authority, but does need to utilize what authority is already has, and utilize it more fully. They were also all very concerned with the Commission's consumer protection functions.


Like some of the other attendees (Bob Freund of LD8, for one), I went into the forum not knowing who I was going to vote for; because all four candidates did a good job, I still don't know. Certainly, none talked themselves out of consideration.


However, I thought that two of the candidates did a better job of presentation at the forum - Kara Kelty showed a well-thought out grasp of the broad array of issues facing the ACC and Paul Newman exhibited an energy and passion that is sorely needed on the ACC.


Note: Let me be clear here - all of the candidates displayed a high level of intelligence and passion; it's just that Kelty and Newman stood out in those areas.


Now for a few constructive criticisms, so people don't think that the purpose of this post is simply to bash Republicans (though there is plenty of that coming up :)) ) -


Paul Newman - He tended to speak to the moderator, not the audience or the cameras (which were located behind the live audience). This will disconcert people who view the forum on TV or via webcast and could distract viewers from the content of his answers.


Kara Kelty - Early on, she cited the ACC race as the most important statewide race this year. Well, while *technically* that point is completely accurate, it should be noted that it's the *only* statewide race this year. And if I have to be that picky to find something to criticize, it means that she did a great job Tuesday.


Sandra Kennedy - She showed perhaps the greatest understanding of the political and organization process surrounding the ACC and getting things done there. However, on certain policy questions, she had to stop and think of a response. While her responses were intelligent and informed, the hesitation won't look good on TV.


Sam George - In a way, I blame him for making this a tough choice for me. I went in to the forum prepared to write off his candidacy - I've met each of the other candidates at various events, and they each have campaign websites up and running. I'd never met George before this, and he doesn't have a campaign website.


However, he showed up, he knew his stuff, and when I spoke to him briefly after the forum, he advised me that a campaign website is coming.


And lastly, one BIG criticism for the organizers of the forum - the questions were too long and involved. Frequently, the questions took longer to ask than the candidates had time alloted to answer them. In addition, the questions had so many parts to them that there was no way to remember (and answer!) them all. There were a few instances where a candidate didn't directly answer a question, but I won't criticize them for that - the structure of the questions wasn't fair to the candidates. I won't even criticize the Republicans in this regard. They may have had an advantage (they could have prepared by having an observer at the morning session or watching it via webcast), but the questions were just as unfair to them as to the Democratic candidates.




On the other hand, there were things to criticize the Reps over.


Oh yeah. :)




Let's start with the basics - with the possible exception of Marian McClure, none of this bunch understands that 'consumer protection' is a significant part of the ACC's functions.


Their response to any consumer-related concerns was to say that the "free market" and "competition" would address any inequities.


OK, maybe it's just a philosophical difference, but how can people who are pathologically opposed to business regulations stand for an office where their job would be to regulate business? They didn't advocate "responsible" regulation or something similar, they oppose almost any regulation at all.


In regard to efforts to help low-income and fixed-income customers such as the elderly who are facing the impact of skyrocketing energy prices on their household budgets, the candidates felt that current industry-based programs were sufficient. John Allen, former state senator from north Scottsdale, opined that "growing old doesn't qualify you for hardship."


Their views on global warming and other climate change phenomena ranged from McClure's "the jury is still out" thru Rick Fowlkes' global warming is "overstated" all the way to Joe Hobbs' opinion that concerns over global warming have an "almost religious perspective.


Bob Stump (and most of the other candidates) want more nuclear power plants.

Early on in their part of the forum, the Reps got a little testy toward each other. When they weren't reading from the "we're more conservative than thou" playbook, electoral newcomers Rick Fowlkes, Keith Swapp and Joe Hobbs made a point of taking swipes at their opponents (former or current legislators, one and all) for being career politicians. Bob Robson then "took exception" to their comments. (Yes, those were his actual words.)

Based on what I saw at the forum, the least bad of the Republican candidates ("good" would be going way too far :) ) were Marian McClure (for her efforts in the lege to control predatory payday lenders and Barry Wong, a former legislator. While he is just as conservative as any of the others, he did occasionally show an understanding of issues that went beyond the usual Republican knee-jerk talking points.

Anyway, the forum for the general election should be an interesting one (in a compare and contrast sort of way), with the candidate slate from each side approaching the positions they're seeking from very different perspectives.

In addition to the usual Democratic/Republican differences, there will be another one - geographic diversity.

2 of the 4 Democratic candidates are from outside of Maricopa County (Kelty and Newman); only 1 out of the 8 Rep candidates hail from someplace other than here (McClure). I'm not sure if that will make any difference in the general election, but Janet Napolitano showed in 2002 that a candidate doesn't need to win Maricopa County to win a general election in this state (though it doesn't hurt.)

Anyway, that forum is scheduled for September 15, also at Rio Salado Community College, 2323 W. 14th Street, Tempe, from 1:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. with a candidate reception to follow.

Later!

Joel Bramoweth, candidate for Scottsdale City Council

Last week, I invited each of the candidates running for office in Scottsdale (mayor and city council) to submit a statement for their candidacy to be published here. Today, I received the 2nd response, from Joel Bramoweth, candidate for Scottsdale City Council. His statement is adapted from a speech, which is why it occasionally reads like he is targeting it toward a live audience. With Mr. Bramoweth's permission, I made a couple of edits in that regard that did not affect the content of his piece, only the readability.

Here it is -

I want to be elected as much as you want to protect and complete the Preserve. I will support you without reservation.

I’m Joel BramOweth and you can HELP ME BRING BACK the ideals of office to City Hall. Born and raised in Tucson, I believe “Elective Office is a Job, it is not a Reward”.

My mom and dad went to Tucson, in 1944 by train from St. Louis, Mo. and when they arrived they had nowhere to go and the town consisted of 35,000 people. They made a life and my dad’s the smartest guy I know.

When I graduated the U of A in December ’69 I wanted to Experience the East coast, drove to Newburyport, MA in an old car without a heater and went to work for a 120 year old silversmith called The Towle Company. I spent 10 years with them working throughout the US and came home to open my own business.

Qualifications: I’ve been self employed for 30 years in real estate management working in four states and along the way I’ve owned some land and built some building and said no to the largest developers and tenants. I have the skill, experience and especially the perspective for the job. (Did you know that each year the council makes about 500 decisions and 375 or 75% of them are real estate related.?)

Prepared: I’ve attended every city council meeting, commissions and interviewed department heads for 28 months and talked to 10,000 people because it’s not just learning the issues; it’s learning your views. “I’m fired up and ready to go”.

Ideals: We need to bring ideals back to city hall by electing modern people who welcome debate without bullying, who are tolerant of new ideas and can do the job without political self-interest or arrogance. If elected officials expect to keep the job, they must do the job and be accountable for the job. We are a wonderful city despite this council, not because of the council. We need change; we need 6 new councilman and I look forward to discussing the issues most important to you and earning your vote.

There is a distinction between “Positions” and “Opinions”. Positions are based on fact, your views and the city’s best interests, opinions are personal and selfish. This council doesn’t get it. Politicians like to decide things, it emboldens them, they like big issues to get reelected like condemning the water company and sweeping the Toll Brothers decision under the rug, this is the old politics of fear, alliance and ideology. It has caused failed lawsuits, referendums and squabbling.

This council has not had one original idea, they jump from problem to problem and draw-out issues creating controversy, lawsuits, condemnations actions and referendums and instead of compromise they bully. Their attitude does not welcome debate and they believe only in their own ideas.

We need a change; we need three new people this year and three in two years. They are sitting right in front of you, they are qualified, modern people who will conduct the business of the city better. I want to be one of them.

I look forward to talking about the issues, which most concern you.

Thank you.

Later!

Stranger in a strange land

Not the classic Heinlein novel, just me attending a Republican candidate forum in LD18. :)

The four Republican candidates for the two LD18 House seats (Kanani Henderson, Ron Middlebrook, Cecil Ash, and Steve Court) and the two Rep candidates for the LD18 Senate seat (Kevin Gibbons and Russell Pearce) attended the Clean Elections primary forum in the EVIT auditorium on Thursday night.

The 100 or so audience members, while more ethnically and politically diverse than I had originally anticipated, definitely trended toward the "pale nativist" demographic (more on that in a moment).

I won't try to do a complete recap of the forum - the event video will be posted on the Clean Elections website within a few days for those who are interested in the full forum.

However, some of the "highpoints" included -

...Prior to the event, I passed by a beat-up van with the Arizona licence plate "CUTGOVT."

Wonder if the owner of that vehicle or the government employees who processed and issued that plate appreciated the irony there.

...Also prior to the event, a woman handed me a printed copy of this New Times' article that warned of a planned nativist rally at the forum.

Not sure if there was a "rally" per se, but they were definitely out in force.

As were the police.

,,,During a forum question regarding illegal immigration, one audience member shouted out that illegal immigrants should be sent to the gas chamber.

I wish I was kidding about that.


Anyway, the forum's sponsor was the Children's Action Alliance, and its CEO, Dana Naimark, kicked off the forum while Alberto Olivas of the Maricopa Community Colleges Center for Public Policy moderated the forum.

First up were the candidates for representative; while there were differences between them, those differences were less substantive than nuanced. Not a moderate among them.

Ron Middlebrook is a Republican PC from the same precinct as Russell Pearce (Mesa 16) and he is an ideologue straight out of the Pearce mold. When asked what he hoped to accomplish in the lege, he started sounding off on liberal activist federal judges. He wants to amend the U.S. Constitution to exempt states from compliance with federal court rulings.

Guess he doesn't realize that he's running for the *Arizona* House of Representatives.

Like Pearce, he supports balancing the state's budget by overturning voter-approved measures that mandate spending on specific issues (like children's health care!)

When asked what he thought the state could do to combat the high drop out rate in Arizona's schools, he blamed illegal immigrants for the high rate.

A quick read of his website makes me wonder if he might be one of those illegal immigrant high school dropouts that he bemoaned - on it, he writes of his support of "boarder" security (not a typo there - he does it twice) and that he believes that (emphasis mine) "Nothing would do more to improve the quality of education in our stare than vouchers."

To sum up - he's Russell Pearce without the term limits.


Cecil Ash is also a PC (Mesa 94). His answers to the questions were a bit more thoughtful than Middlebrook's, but he often fell back on Republican cliches ("private industry is better than the government", "seal the border", etc.)

His best response was to a question about how to reduce the high turnover of state employees - he questioned the underlying premise of the question, wondering that perhaps the real problem wasn't employee turnover, it was employees staying in their positions (and on the public payroll!) for too long.

BTW - In this context "best" is short for "best shows his cluelessness on this particular issue." "Best" has fewer syllables, which is why I chose to use it. :)


Retired businessman Steve Court stuck to the party line - he wants to rein in the state's budget, fix the state's failing public school system with "magnet" schools and vouchers, and ease government regulation of businesses.


The fourth House candidate, Kanani Henderson, is the director of a school tuition organization (STO) (an STO is an organization designed to funnel taxpayer money to private schools under the guise of 'school choice.') She was also, perhaps, the most polished of the four candidates. While her answers were pure party rhetoric, they had depth and relevance (the significance of that was made obvious during the Senate portion of the forum - more on that later :) ).

With her answers, she tended to hit the neocon high points (Reagan, pro-life, and, of course, school choice). However, her best answer was also to the state employee turnover question mentioned above (same meaning of "best" as above, too) -

She suggested that the best way to reduce the turnover of state employees was to "find people who are passionate about handing out drivers licenses and delivering mail".

She may have been sarcastic with her "passionate" comment (I'm not sure) but she needs her campaign manager or somebody she trusts to sit her down and gently break the news to her - post office employees are *not* state employees. If she wins election to the lege and tries to mess with them, all she'll get for her trouble is a visit from some postal inspectors and maybe the FBI.

Regarding ballot propositions, all four expressed strong support for the lege-pushed ban on same sex marriage, expressed support for the payday loan industry-supported proposition to permanently legalize that business (they expressed distaste for the business, but their "free market" ideals overrode any desire to regulate predatory lenders), and opposed the measure on imposing a transportation-dedicated sales tax (TIME initiative.) They also generally opposed a hypothetical move to earmark state money to help the growth of Phoenix/Mesa Gateway Airport, however, they left enough wiggle room in their positions to allow for a change depending on specific circumstances.

In summary, Ron Middlebrook was easily the most extreme of the four, but other three were no slouches in the "more conservative than thee" department - they all make Barry Goldwater look like a RINO. Additionally, none of them talked about representing the district, only about their conservative principles.

In other words, they're all obedient little ideologues.


The Senate part of the forum was at once shorter and more colorful. Both candidates, Kevin Gibbons and Russell Pearce, frequently gave answers that were both apocryphal and irrelevent.

They also didn't appreciate the irony in some of their answers. For instance, when asked what they thought were some of the good things that the lege had done recently, and what were some of the mistakes, both said that the lege hasn't done much right recently.

And both conveniently neglected to note that their party has controlled the lege since God covered Arizona in dust and cactus needles.

Other highlights included Russell Pearce saying that "the bloated welfare state" was responsible for there being children in America without health insurance/care and that the "free market" could address the problem; a few moments later, Kevin Gibbons admitted that for a brief period when he and his wife were just starting a family and he was still a student at ASU, they were on AHCCCS.

Perhaps the biggest area of disagreement between the two was Pearce's whole-hearted support of the employer sanctions anti-immigrant law that he wrote (not exactly a surprise, that) and Gibbons' call to "revisit" the law (a position that elicited gasps from multiple audience members).

Toward the end, some of the discussion got a little more directly personal.

For instance, Gibbons said that one of the things that he wanted to do was change the "tone" at the lege, and that Pearce was part of the reason that the lege was so dysfunctional.

This also elicited gasps from some audience members, but I'm not sure why. Both Pearce and Gibbons are running for the same office and they obviously don't like each other very much. Anybody who was shocked that one directly criticized the other needs to get out more.

Summary of the candidates' presentations:

Pearce may not have answered all of the questions directly, but he stay on message the whole time - blame immigrants for everything and scare people with public safety concerns. His ability to stay focused made it obvious that he's been through this before.

Gibbons, on the other hand, made it painfully clear that he is a political neophyte. Many of his answers were either irrelevent to the question he had been asked, or were "lawyer" answers - lots of words, little meaning.

He did, however, have the best line of the night - he observed that for all of Pearce's small government rhetoric, he has spent the vast majority of his adult life feeding at the public trough through one government job or another. Gibbons said that he was working to give Pearce a couple of years off to experience the private sector.

OK, so it was funnier in person there than in writing here. :))



Other notes -

The CCEC forum for the general election has been scheduled for September 17 and will include both of the Democratic candidates for LD18, Tammie Pursley (House) and Judah Nativio (Senate).

Both Democratic candidates, as well as a number of their supporters, were in attendance at the forum.

I spoke briefly with them, and both Pursley and Nativio are nearly done collecting their 5s for Clean Elections funding; both advised that anyone interested in helping them reach their goal should visit their websites (linked above) for the forms and contribution information.

In addition, while website for Pursley is currently a Facebook page, her campaign site, Pursleyforchange.com, is scheduled to go live within a few days. Check back there for updates.


Anyway, this post has taken wayyyyy longer than I planned, and I need to get some sleep.

Later!

The McCain Campaign Is Making It Christmas In July For The Obama Campaign

It seems that this week that whenever something happens that could hurt the Obama campaign, the McCain campaign does something to move the public's attention over to their own screw-ups.

Earlier this week, Sen. Obama ticked off anyone who is concerned about civil liberties with his vote in favor of immunity for telecommunication companies that aided George Bush's illegal surveillance of Americans after September 11, 2001.

Then everybody realized that while Obama's vote was *totally* wrong, at least he showed up and stood up, taking the (well-deserved) heat for that vote.

John McCain, on the other hand, still can't be bothered to show up to his day job - he missed the same vote.


Then the Rev. Jesse Jackson was caught on a live mic criticizing Sen. Obama on Fox News (BTW - Whatthehell was Jackson doing on Fox anyway? He's been around long enough to know that any Dems on Fox are going to get ambushed.)

The deep embarrassment of the remark from a staunch supporter was nothing compared to the "pain in the neck" factor of having it played on cable news shows over and over ad absurdum.

But then, true to form, the McCain campaign helped out their rivals by trotting out Phil Gramm, a senior McCain advisor (and perhaps the only man in the country who could give lessons in "mean and callously uncaring" to Dick Cheney). So what did Gramm do to help divert some of the heat from the Obama campaign?

He told interviewers for the Washington Times that Americans were "whiners" for worrying about the current economic troubles facing the average family.

Actually, he said that America was a "nation of whiners."

And for that and similarly ham-handed moves, Barack Obama should add John McCain and his senior campaign staffers (and advisors!) to his Christmas card list.

BTW - Whatthehell was McCain thinking when he brought Gramm on board as his economic advisor? Gramm's greatest claim to fame regarding economic policy came when Gramm ran interference for Enron on Capitol Hill when they were working to cripple California's economy.

Probably *not* the best guy to have as a highly visible part of your team when running for President during a recession.

Later!

Short Attention Span Musing

...In this post, Greg at Espresso Pundit brought up a good point about Scottsdale's elections, and the impact of the move to a September/November cycle from a March/May one.

The point that he made was that the Republican primary in CD5 likely will elevate the Republican turnout for September's election.

This wouldn't be significant under the old March/May municipal election schedule, as Scottsdale's municipal elections are non-partisan.

Under the old schedule, it wouldn't matter that Mayor Mary Manross is a registered Democrat or that her challenger Councilman Jim Lane is a Republican.

However, the new schedule and the expected elevated Republican turnout on a primary day where the only significant Democratic race is for County Attorney (not a race that will elevate Democratic primary turnout - most of us are focused on November, not September) could contribute to a Lane upset over the favored incumbent, Manross.

Greg's point is a valid one, but I'm not sure it quite fits in Scottsdale.

In a city like Scottsdale, partisan political concerns take a back seat to financial political concerns, and Manross is seen as whole-heartedly representing the city's moneyed interests (witness the Chamber of Commerce's endorsement of her); Lane is quiet about it, but he supports the more socially extreme wing of his party (witness his active support of JD Hayworth in 2006).

The CD5 primary *will* elevate Republican turnout in Scottsdale for September's election, but the increased turnout won't just bring out the socially conservative Republicans, it'll bring out the money-focused ones, too.

In short, the elevated turnout *should* help Lane somewhat, but it's going to have some benefit for Manross, too. The key factor in the race could be John Washington's write-in candidacy. If he pulls in enough votes to keep both Manross and Lane below 50% in the final tally, it will force a November runoff, and as Laura Pastor learned in last fall's elections in Phoenix (and Hut Hutson learned in Tempe this spring), it doesn't matter who's favored, *anything* can happen in a runoff.


...Want another reason to understand why change is needed in the Sheriff's office?

The East Valley Tribune is running a five-day series on the MCSO. Wednesday's headline -

"Reasonable Doubt: The evolution of MCSO into an immigration agency"

Just a reminder - the "MC" in "MCSO" stands for Maricopa County, not Border Patrol.

Even though Maricopa County is the stolen car capital of the country, Joe Arpaio's obsession with Mexicans has led to him taking dozens, sometimes hundreds, of deputies off of patrol duties to deploy them on anti-brown people, "broken taillight" sweeps.

Vote to return professionalism to the office of the Maricopa County Sheriff - Vote for Dan Saban.


...On July 20th, there will be two Democratic fundraisers that, while scheduled so as to not overlap, should provide an interesting contrast -

- From 3:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m., there will be a Happy Birthday party for Congressman (and Tempe icon) Harry Mitchell at Shalimar Golf Club in Tempe (contact the campaign at 480.755.3343 or via email to herschel[at]harry2008.com for more details.)

- At 7:00 p.m., the Arizona Democratic Party is holding its annual Heritage Dinner, featuring special guest Congressman (and bane of grassroots Democratic activists everywhere) Rahm Emanuel (D-IL). (Contact the ADP at RSVP[at]azdem.org or (602) 234-6814 for more details.)

Can anyone guess which one will have the larger and more enthusiastic crowd? :)

Somebody should tell the ADP's schedulers that there are 365 days per year, and other than (maybe!) Christmas, Thanksgiving, and election days, any of the other 364 would have been a better choice for the Heritage Dinner.

BTW - I'm just teasing a little with this one - I've already been told that Harry will be at the Heritage Dinner. Turnout should be just fine there, too. :))


...The Arizona Sierra Club's report card for the just-completed session of the Arizona lege is out (and thank to Zelph at AZNetroots for the heads-up :) ).

It's interesting to note that the three Republicans who were in the lege but are running for Arizona Corporation Commission (those darn term limits!), Marian McClure, Bob Robson, and Bob Stump (state reps one and all) each earned "Fs" from the Sierra Club for their efforts in the lege.

It's hard to tell from the name, but the Corporation Commission is the political body best positioned to lead the quest for affordable alternative energy options and cleaner air in AZ.

Well, at least it will be when we elect actual public servants to the board, instead of people who are just as much industrial tools as any strip-mining excavator or coal-powered electrical generator.

Remember: Paul Newman, Sandra Kennedy, Kara Kelty, and Sam George for Corporation Commission - three of them will move on after the primary, and any of the four is better than any of the Republicans running. (Sorry, Sam George supporters, still haven't found a website for him :) ).

House report card here; Senate report card here.

BTW - LD17 legislators Sen. Burton Cahill and Representatives Ableser and Schapira all earned grades of "A" or better. Congrats to all three on jobs well done!

Later!

Mayor Mary Manross

As promised in my previous post, the first candidate statement is in.

From Mayor Mary Manross' reelection campaign -


Mayor Mary Manross

www.marymanross.com

It has been an honor to serve as your Mayor for 8 years, along with 8 years on the Council. The clouds of uncertainty which hung over our city when I took office have been lifted. It really is a bright new day in Scottsdale! Today there is an all-time record $3.3 billion dollars of new investment in downtown and Southern Scottsdale where much needed revitalization is in full swing. Our budget is balanced and it is going to stay that way. Scottsdale’s AAA bond rating was, once again, reaffirmed in spite of a national recession. Scottsdale’s property tax rate is less than half that of neighboring Phoenix’s.

We have increased the number of Police Officers by 33% since I took office in 2000, and we are better off for it. Violent crime in Scottsdale is at a 23 year low! The 101 is also safer due to the leadership we demonstrated by implementing photo enforcement on the freeway.

SkySong, the ASU/Scottsdale Center for Innovation, is effectively putting Southern Scottsdale on the global map and bringing $750 million of new investment along the McDowell Corridor. Throughout our community, we have created over 20,000 new quality jobs.

Our commitment to completing the McDowell Sonoran Preserve has never been stronger and we will soon be constructing the all important Gateway to the Preserve.

Under my leadership Scottsdale is Stronger, More Confident, and one of the Most Desirable places to live in America. Let’s keep it that way!

I will continue to champion reinvigoration of original Scottsdale, revitalization of mature neighborhoods, attraction of the arts, tourism, high quality jobs, completion of our Preserve, building Scottsdale’s sustainable future and maintaining our unmatched quality of life. I will ensure that Scottsdale remains a city you will be proud to call home.

Scottsdale Area Chamber and Community Leaders endorse Mayor Manross

The endorsement by the Scottsdale Area Chamber comes the same week that Bob Parsons, founder and CEO of GoDaddy, Brad Casper, President and CEO of Dial corporation, and Dan Schweiker, founder and Chairman of China Mist endorsed Mayor Manross.

Recently Manross announced the endorsements of Dr. Art DeCabooter, President of Scottsdale Community College, Jamie Drinkwater Buchanan, community leader and daughter of legendary Mayor Herb Drinkwater, Jim Bruner, former County Supervisor and Councilmember, Virginia Korte, past President and CEO of the Scottsdale Area Chamber, and Ellen Andres-Schneider, Scottsdale Cultural trustee.

Manross carries Green Building message far and wide

Within the past month Mayor Manross, winner of the national “Mayor’s award for Energy Efficiency”, has delivered the Green Building and Sustainability message to the South Lake Tahoe, California, City Council, the Sustainability Town Hall hosted by Rep. Harry Mitchell at SkySong in Scottsdale, and the Southern Arizona Solar Energy Development Conference held at the U of A. in Tucson.

Valley Mayors elect Mary Manross Chairman of the Maricopa Association of Governments

As Chairman, Mayor Manross will continue to advocate for regional transportation solutions, acceleration of projects impacting Scottsdale, effective water policy and growth management.


More statements as they come in...

Open invitation to Scottsdale candidates

Earlier today, I sent an email all of the official candidates for office in Scottsdale's elections this fall. In it, I invited each of them to send a brief statement (500 words or so) on their respective candidacies to be published here.

I'll publish those statements without editing or comments, with a couple of basic exceptions, which seem to be obvious ones, but need to be stated up front anyway -

1. No profanity (OK, that probably won't be a problem with this pool of candidates :) ).

2. The statement should be a positive one and not a personal attack on one or another candidate, i.e. - "this is why I'm the best choice for Scottsdale" not "So-and-so is a jerk."

In addition, while this is a good opportunity for candidates to get their messages out in a low-cost way, no criticisms will be directed at those candidates who choose not to submit a statement.

In fairness to everyone, I'm also asking that any commenters in this thread of posts follow the same guidelines.

Anyway, I've received the first statement already, so that will be going up in my next post.

Later!